Marquez takes final pole position of the season at Valencia. Second row start for Pedrosa

Marc Marquez today extended his career pole count to 73 (45 in MotoGP), with his eighth pole of the season in Valencia. Together, with the three claimed by teammate Dani Pedrosa, this brings the Repsol Honda Team’s tally to 11 pole positions in 2017.

After showing quick race pace and taking P1 in both FP3 and FP4 sessions, Marc was the only rider able to dip under the 1’30 barrier in qualifying, setting a 1’29.897 that proved unbeatable by his opponents, even if the Spaniard suffered a crash in turn 4 during his second run, which prevented him from further improving on that time.

Dani also showed a competitive race pace today, ending FP4 in third place and lapping fast in qualifying, though unable to go as quick as expected as he encountered some traffic during his last flying lap. Nevertheless, Pedrosa recorded a solid fifth fastest time and will start from second row in tomorrow’s showdown, scheduled for 14:00.

Marc Marquez

Pole1'29.897

“I’m extremely happy that today we’ve achieved our goal of starting from the front row, as the start is very important at this track. I had a crash in qualifying that frustrated me for a bit, though only for a few minutes. The fact is that I did not feel totally comfortable with the front in turn 4 during my first flying lap, and when I told Santi (Hernández) before going out for my second run he told me to pay attention to this. I kept pushing because I knew that I had to do so if I wanted to be faster, but then I fell. As I said on Thursday, the ‘Marquez style’ will be okay until after the warm up, and that I want to work in the same way as always, pushing hard during the practices. The most important thing is that we’ve worked well all weekend and that we’ve got a good pace on used tires. For the race we must make a switch and change. We must see where Dovi is, where we can finish and do our best.”

Dani Pedrosa

5th1'30.589

“We worked a lot on the pace this weekend but still have to make our final tire choice for the race, because the temperature may change tomorrow. The qualifying session did not go as well as we would’ve liked because unfortunately I couldn’t do the perfect lap, and also because I came across some traffic during my fastest lap. Still, even though we are starting from the 5th position tomorrow, we’ll try and make a good start and to stay at the front from the beginning. There are a handful of riders with a good pace, including Marc, Lorenzo and a few others, but in the race we’ll have to see what the strategy is for each of them, which depends on their tire choices. Regardless, we’ll be sure to give 100% because it would be great to finish the season with a strong result.”

MotoGP 2017Saturday, November 11th 2017

Qualifying
Round 18
Gran Premio de la Comunitat ValencianaValencia

Results Session

Sunny

Humidity

33%

Track Temp

26°C

Air Temp

23°C

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1'29.897

2

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

0.349

3

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

0.502

4

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

Ducati Team

Ducati

0.563

5

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

0.692

6

Pirro Michele

51

ITA

Ducati Team

Ducati

0.867

7

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.951

8

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

0.960

9

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

Ducati Team

Ducati

1.064

10

Rins Alex

42

SPA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1.075

11

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Yamaha

1.147

12

Miller Jack

43

AUS

Marc VDS Racing Team

Honda

1.293

13

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

1'31.030 Q1

14

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

Marc VDS Racing Team

Honda

0.304

15

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

0.323

16

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

LCR Honda

Honda

0.404

17

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

0.407

18

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

Pull&Bear Aspar Team

Ducati

0.432

19

Kallio Mika

36

FIN

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

0.468

20

Barbera Hector

8

SPA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

0.594

21

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

Pull&Bear Aspar Team

Ducati

0.685

22

Redding Scott

45

GBR

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

0.732

23

Baz Loris

76

FRA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

0.882

24

Lowes Sam

22

GBR

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

0.923

25

Van Der Mark Michael

60

NDL

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

1.611

Gallery

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Location Information

The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more.

Location Information

The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more.